KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday the Taliban no longer posed a threat to Kunduz province and hailed the Afghan air force for eliminating the group’s shadow governor for Kunduz, Mullah Abdul Salam.
He said the Taliban insurgents were criminals.
On the implications of Salam’s death, the Afghan interior ministry said the demise of the Taliban group’s main war strategist would inflict a major blow to group’s activities in Kunduz.
Salam was known as Taliban’s war machine in Kunduz and in the eastern regions.
On Sunday, the Afghan air force attacked a Taliban base in Nahr-e-Kohna village of Dasht-e-Archi district in Kunduz killing at least nine Taliban insurgents, including Salam.
“Maulavi Salam and his associates were eliminated in Kunduz, it is just because of you (the Afghan forces). Today this criminal group is no longer a threat to the people of Kunduz and north-eastern regions,” said Ghani.
“The killing of Mullah Salam and his associates in Kunduz province is a major achievement by the Afghan security forces,” said MoI deputy spokesman Najib Danish.
The Taliban has been constantly targeting the Afghan forces in the strategic town of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan in its attempts to infiltrate other regions in the north.
Under Salam as Taliban war strategist, the Talien insurgents last year, managed to capture the center of Kunduz. The takeover of Kunduz by the Taliban sparked strong retaliation from the Afghan public and political forces.
Many blamed poor leadership of the war as the main reason that Kunduz fell to the Taliban.
“Mullah Salam and two of his commanders were eliminated during a confrontation with the security forces,” said Kunduz governor Assadullah Omarkhail.
According to some sources, Salam spent jail terms in Guantanamo and Pakistan and he played a significant role in the expansion of Taliban in the north and eastern regions of Afghanistan.
The Taliban has confirmed the death of Salam. (Tolonews)